Monthly Archives: April 2016

Endangered heritage – the case of the Transylvanian Saxon fortress churches

With regard to the previous article about 3D reconstruction of destroyed or decayed historical buildings, there is unfortunately a recent case where such an application is necessary after all what is left of a historical fortress church tower is only debris:

rothbach_chelu_2016

Photo: Christian Chelu (http://www.siebenbuerger.de/zeitung/artikel/rumaenien/16428-kampf-gegen-die-zeit-erste.html)

Continue reading Endangered heritage – the case of the Transylvanian Saxon fortress churches

The “Google Cultural Institute” as a platform for presenting minority heritage

After the success of the Google Art Project where museums all over the globe can present their works of art in online exhibitions, Google Inc. further expanded the platform and provides now a multitude of content under the virtual roof of a “Cultural Institute”:

Viscri at Google Cultural Institute

Photo: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/transilvania 

Continue reading The “Google Cultural Institute” as a platform for presenting minority heritage

Digital archaeology and the reconstruction of lost cultural heritage

Historical minorities have left behind many decayed buildings and ruins. Their digital reconstruction by means of computer animation technology should play therefore a basic role in documenting this lost cultural heritage. A small but impressive project on the ruin of Corfe Castle in Southern England shows in an exemplary way how such an undertaking can be realized:

Continue reading Digital archaeology and the reconstruction of lost cultural heritage

Artificial intelligence and its possible role in preserving cultural knowledge

Despite the incidents produced by Microsoft’s out-of-control experimental chatbot “Tay” which was caused by abusive manipulation from the internet community – the bot processed into its routines the information received by other Twitter users and formulated based on these its own, politically quite incorrect tweets1 – one should nevertheless consider the promising potential offered by this technology: an artificial intelligence which can learn by selected information and improve continously the complexity and quality of its output would be able to serve as a communicator and keeper of cultural knowledge.  Continue reading Artificial intelligence and its possible role in preserving cultural knowledge

  1. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/tay-the-neo-nazi-millennial-chatbot-gets-autopsied/ []